Round-the-clock coverage to return to Conn. troops

Associated Press

Middletown — Connecticut’s new public safety commissioner wants to restore 24/7 coverage at all state police barracks across the state.

Dora Schriro is scheduled to announce her decision today.

As part of a recent effort to consolidate dispatch centers, some troops were closed after normal business hours. Emergency call boxes were installed outside of those barracks, allowing residents to call a trooper.

But Schriro said she determined after a review that all 11 state police barracks need to be open around-the-clock.

In the Western District, two dispatches were rolled into a third in April 2012. Last fall, in the Eastern District, two other dispatches were consolidated with two other troops.

Last month, the newly appointed commissioner suspended any further consolidations until she finished reviewing the initiative, implemented by her predecessor.